Article

The tenth anniversary of the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee was celebrated in an official ceremony at Baku’s Republican Palace Friday, as chairman of the committee Ilham Aliyev was awarded Georgia’s Olympism Order by Vice-President of the Georgian Olympic Committee Georgiy Topadze.

Vice-President of the Russian Olympic Committee, member of the State Duma Valeriy Kuzin conferred the Azerbaijani Olympic chief a Russian badge for contributions to the development of Olympic movement.

Mr. Aliyev reported to the ceremony followed by congratulations of the Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee Vitaliy Smirnov and President Jacques Rogue.

Taking part in the solemn ceremony, Secretary General of the Turkish Olympic Committee, President of the World Association of Sport Journalists Togay Boyatli, Vice-President of the European Olympic Committee Alexander Kozlovski, Sydney Olympics champion Namiq Abdullayev, European chess champion Zeynab Mammadyarova noted the progress in Azerbaijani sports since 1997.

Under Ilham Aliyev’s leadership in the Olympic Committee Azerbaijani athletes have won over 800 medals in international contests.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev spoke of the challenges in modern sports. “Sports is physical culture and culture at the same time. Some say culture is related to arts. But, every one’s culture is related to their physical health, which is helpful in many ways. You have good spirit in a healthy body”, the President highlighted the importance of sports.*